"Yet the problem is not that this case marks a low point in this country’s racial history—it’s that, after two centuries of common history, we’re still obligated to chart high points and low ones. To be black at times like this is to see current events on a real-time ticker, a Dow Jones average measuring the quality of one’s citizenship. Trayvon Martin’s death is an American tragedy, but it will mainly be understood as an African-American one. That it occurred in a country that elected and reelected a black President doesn't diminish the despair this verdict inspires, it intensifies it."

Thanks for sharing this. So very on point--> "Racism has never rested," said Perkins. "There's a string, a history of it going on from the time of slavery through now. Nothing has changed. You can take Oscar Grant, you can take Emmett Till, you can take Trayvon Martin, you can take them all. It's the same pattern that goes on where people are afraid of us. I as an African American male walking down the street. A 71 year old African American male. We have to deal with that."